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Shelby Alexander signs up to testify against the four abortion-related bills debated in a Senate committee Thursday.

On the first day of public testimony for four abortion-related bills, the Senate chamber looked like a scene out of “Mad Men” with women dressed in pillbox hats to symbolize a return to a pre-Roe vs. Wade era.

The Senate Health and Human Services committee took testimony on four bills that would do the following: require that those providing abortions have hospital admission privileges; ban abortions after 20 weeks except if the life of the mother was immediately in danger; require that abortion facilities meet the minimum standards of ambulatory surgical centers; and regulate how doctors can dispense medication like Mifeprex — not Plan B — that terminates early pregnancies requiring that they sign a contract with a physician who will handle any complications.

Dressed in a pink dress and black gloves, Shelby Alexander stood along the perimeter of the Senate floor shaking her head when proponents of the bills discussed the ability for a fetus to feel pain at 20 weeks, a fact disputed in the scientific community.

Alexander was one of about 30 women who dressed up to make the point that women “don’t want to go back” to that era.

“If this looks backwards,” she said, referring to her outfit. “I ask [legislators] to look at the bills they filed.”

Some House members (like avid Tweeter Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, and Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin) followed the debate on the unreliable RealPlayer livestream:

Hegar has said 20-week ban based on studies — 20 mins in, has not named a SINGLE study. #txlege

Testifying in favor of the bills, citizen Sheila Page said that if she could tell from looking at it that a caterpillar being stung by ants was in pain, a more advanced organism would be as well if it were being aborted.

“We all need to sit back and consider the humanity of this question that we’re trying to make very scientific,” she said. “We’re talking about human babies, not a kitten or puppy, not a worm.”

AUSTIN — Based on the responses of 44 percent of approved providers, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission feels confident the state can absorb the women who used Planned Parenthood as their women’s health provider.

That’s according to the results from the commission’s capacity survey that polled the 1,948 approved providers within 30 miles of a Planned Parenthood clinic. The results were intended to show whether the new state-run women’s health program can accommodate the more than 40,000 women who used Planned Parenthood as their provider under the Medicaid Women’s Health Program.

Texas switched to the state-run version of the program on Jan. 1, 2013 after federal funds were pulled on Dec. 31, 2012. Funding was withdrawn as a result of the state’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood, an otherwise approved provider, because it shares a name with a privately-funded arm of the organization that provides abortions.

Out of the 1,948 surveyed, 851 responded to questions asking how many unique women’s health program patients the providers have the capacity to serve for the next year. For those that did not respond, capacity was estimated by the number of clients the provider billed in fiscal 2012.

The survey concludes the results are positive especially in the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin and Abilene areas; only San Angelo would require more providers. But, results are unclear about the needs of the Paris, Tyler, Corsicana and Waco area because of “Planned Parenthood’s unusual billing practices.”

A Dallas Morning News review of the data for the Dallas-Fort Worth area suggested that there may not be enough providers to serve the 13,000 Planned Parenthood clients.

The report indicates that there is only the capacity to serve 12 new patients in Huntsville, which has about 11,300 women 18 years and older (the WHP is for women aged 18-44 who are at 185 percent of the federal poverty level). But that those women can travel 30 miles to Conroe where doctors can serve 2,265 patients.

“If Planned Parenthood is banned from the Texas Women’s Health Program, this would jeopardize health care access for tens of thousands more,” said Ken S. Lambrecht, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. “The simple fact is there is not the capacity for other providers to absorb the tens of thousands of our patients statewide who could be left in the cold if these affiliate ban rules are allowed to stand.”

One of the criticisms from opponents of the new program is accessibility for the clients who may not have the means to travel long distances to see a provider or who may not be able to take time off to make an appointment. Another criticism is of the presence of a large number of duplicate providers and providers that specialize in anesthesiology, not women’s health, on the list.

The Health and Human Services Commission maintains that the list of 3,500 contains no duplicates.

Planned Parenthood will be in court on Jan. 11 for a temporary injunction hearing that could place a hold on the state’s ability to run the program without Planned Parenthood.

AUSTIN — In the latest of a series of legal proceedings about the women’s health program, a judge ruled Monday that Texas could cut off state funding from Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas and client Marcela Balquinta filed for a temporary restraining order to keep the provider in the new state women’s health program that is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1.

The provider will get another chance at a temporary injunction at another hearing on Jan. 11, but in the meantime, the Planned Parenthood will not be a part of the state-run women’s health program when it launches tomorrow.

Visiting Judge Gary Harger ruled that Texas may exclude the otherwise qualified provider as part of the state’s ban on abortion affiliates from the program, the Associated Press reports.

“It is shocking that once again Texas officials are letting politics jeopardize health care access for women,” said Ken S. Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. “Regardless of what happens in the courts, Planned Parenthood will be here for our patients. Our doors remain open today and always to Texas women in need. We only wish Texas politicians shared this commitment to Texas women, their health, and their well being.”

Until today, the federal government paid for 90 percent of the $35 million program, but that match expired because Texas chose to switch to a state-funded version of the Medicaid Women’s Health Program that purposefully excluded Planned Parenthood as an approved provider.

Planned Parenthood currently serves close to half of the state’s 130,000 low income women in the Medicaid program, which provides preventative cancer screenings, birth control and family planning services, but not abortions. The state wishes to defund Planned Parenthood under the abortion affiliates ban because it shares a name with a privately funded arm that offers abortions.

Update at 12:16 p.m. Dec. 21: The Waco judge has denied the state’s request for a permanent injunction and Medicaid dollars will cease support of the program on Dec. 31.

Ken S. Lambrecht, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said in a statement that the state’s “crusade” has cost Texas nearly $40 million a year in federal funding “harming the health of Texas women at the expense of Texas taxpayers.”

Original item at 3:18 p.m. Dec 20: A federal district court will hear on Friday the state’s case for an injunction against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The state last month filed for a preliminary injunction asking the a Waco district court to allow federal dollars to continue to flow to the state-run women’s health program when it launches Jan. 1.

The government’s position has been that federal money will be removed from Texas on Dec. 31 if it chooses to switch exclude Planned Parenthood as an approved provider in the state-run version of the Medicaid Women’s Health Program.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the federal health program, claims women have a right to choose their approved provider and removing that choice violates their constitutional rights. The federal government currently pays for 90 percent of the $35 million program.

Planned Parenthood currently serves close to half of the state’s 130,000 low income women in the Medicaid program, which provides preventative cancer screenings, birth control and family planning services, but not abortions. The state wishes to defund Planned Parenthood under the abortion affiliates ban because it shares a name with a privately funded arm that offers abortions.

The state’s argues that Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, made an unlawful decision to remove funding because Texas law prohibits taxpayer dollars going to abortion providers and their affiliates. Texas claims dropping the state from the program would be an attempt to coerce the state into repealing its laws.

The state’s filing reads:

“The coercive nature of the Secretary’s decision is aggravated by the fact that she is attempting to exert leverage over the State’s decisions regarding expenditures from its treasury, a matter that is constitutionally immune from federal interference.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services response:

“This Court should deny Texas’s request for emergency injunctive relief because the Court lacks jurisdiction over this case. And, even if the Court had jurisdiction to resolve Texas’s suit (which it does not), the State is unlikely to prevail on the merits of its claims and has failed to show that it will be irreparably harmed absent an injunction.”

A Texas Planned Parenthood patient, Marcela “Marcy” Balquinta, filed suit against the state on Tuesday to ensure the provider is not left out of the women’s health program when the state takes it over on Jan. 1.

Attorneys for Balquinta and Planned Parenthood, which is involved in the suit, claim Health and Human Services executive director Kyle Janek and the Texas Department of State Health Services do not have the authority to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program. They also argue against the state’s ability to enact the “poison pill” plan, which would terminate the women’s health program if the courts determined the provider must be included. The plan was rejected by lawmakers in 2011.

Mary Green, Peg Armstrong and Jan Perrault hold up signs during Women's Health Express, a bus event held in San Antonio in March to protest the attempt to cut Planned Parenthood out of the state's Women's Health Plan.

“I love my job and work hard, but at the end of the day, like many women out there, I live paycheck to paycheck,” Balquinta said. “If I couldn’t go to Planned Parenthood, I don’t know where I’d turn. And there are tens of thousands of Texas women like me.”

This is the second state lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood. The first applied to the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which provides Texas a federal match that pays for 90 percent of the program’s $35 million cost. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is withdrawing funds from the Women’s Health Program on Dec. 31 because it believes it is a woman’s right to choose her provider.

Planned Parenthood also filed a federal lawsuit today, challenging a ruling that allows Texas to exclude it from the state-funded program claiming the ruling places unconstitutional conditions on the provider’s eligibility to participate.

The decision to exclude Planned Parenthood is supported by a law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011 stating that taxpayer dollars will not be used to fund affiliates of abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood does not provide abortions, but shares a name with a privately funded arm that does.

Critics believe the state program will not have enough providers without the Planned Parenthood clinics to serve the 130,000 low-income women who rely on the women’s health program for annual checkups, cancer screenings and family planning. Health and Human Services Commission officials say they have more than 3,500 providers lined up to take in the about 50,000 women who use Planned Parenthood as their provider.